George Clooney fights snake

George Clooney has told how he beat a rattlesnake to death after it attacked his beloved dog.

The Hollywood heartthrob was due to start filming new movie 'Syriana' when the vicious snake pounced on his pooch.

He told Scotland's Daily Record newspaper: "On my way to Morocco, leaving my house, there was a rattlesnake wrapped around my dog with its teeth in the back of his head.

"I had to get a baseball bat and beat the snake until it let go, but it killed the dog. That was the last thing the dog saw, me beating a snake with a bat."

The devastated star says losing his four-legged friend capped off the worst year of his life.

He revealed: "My brother-in-law, who was 46-years-old, stood up and had a heart attack and died.

"My dad was running for an election that he lost in the middle of this shoot and stuff like that. So it felt like I was having a bad year."

The 44-year-old also suffered an excruciating brain injury while filming a torture scene in 'Syriana'.

He said: "I said, 'Tape me to the chair'. I wanted it to look really ugly and bad and it did. So I sort of flung myself over. It wasn't the actor that did it. I sort of did that. But I obviously couldn't protect myself and hit the floor."

The star still battles headaches and memory loss despite having surgery to repair his ruptured dura - the fluid sac around the brain and spinal cord.

He revealed: "It's a slow process and a long battle, but it's getting better."